Evictees face ‘housing discrimination’ in search for new homes, lawyer says
For me, the issue that we’re fighting for is not a one-single-person issue ... unity together is a good thing.
MARGARET ALLUKER, Heron Gate resident and secretary of ACORN’s south Ottawa chapter
In letters sent last Friday to Timbercreek’s legal counsel and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, TuckerSimmons laid out his argument that the tenants facing eviction from Heron Gate are experiencing “housing discrimination” in their search for a new home, on the basis of their skin tone and ethnic background.
“They’re going to be the last ones on a landlord’s list to be able to rent,” he explained in an interview, and that discrimination is exacerbated by low vacancy rates.
In Ottawa, the vacancy rate for townhouses was 1.6 per cent when the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation published its last rental market report in the fall of 2017.
In his letters, Tucker-Simmons requested accommodation for the tenants under the Human Rights Code of Ontario — either preservation or reparation of the residential complex, additional support securing comparable housing in the area without dispersing community members throughout the city, or first right-of-refusal on similarly priced units in the redeveloped Heron Gate complex.
“A real intentional community has developed here,” he explained. “The objective is really to preserve the community in one way or another.”
Timbercreek has said “all residents impacted by the relocation process at Heron Gate will be offered the right-to-return to a home at Heron Gate when the redevelopment of the community is complete,” but didn’t specify what that right-to-return would entail, exactly.
Abdullahi Ali has lived in Heron Gate for more than 20 years. “We help each other, we get together, we share every problem, every important occasion,” he said.
Other residents spoke of babysitting one another’s children, carpools and translating for nonEnglish speaking neighbours.
Ali was forced to move from one Heron Gate unit to his current one during the first round of evictions in 2016. Now, he’s looking outside the community and he’s having no luck finding another four-bedroom unit for his family of nine for anything close to the $1,600 a month he’s currently paying.
“Really what it comes down to is this is a real battlefront in the fight against gentrification and the fight for affordable housing in Ottawa,” said Tucker- Simmons.
But not everyone sees it that way. A tenant for seven years, Benjamin Ford took issue with the narrative that Timbercreek is doing anything wrong.
“The reality is these are very old buildings, they’re hazards … and they were poorly maintained — that’s the key — by the previous (owner),” he said during an interview, sitting on his front porch and pointing out various problems with his home.
“I have no doubt that Timbercreek looked upon this place with the intention of doing what they ’re doing — you don’t buy a dump like this without the intention of updating and flipping … I don’t have a problem with that.”
The Fords are among the lucky ones. They were able to find a new apartment in Ottawa within a week of looking. While they, like many other households facing eviction, have a large family — five children — they don’t belong to a visible minority, and possess perfect English skills.
“Everybody has sympathy, particularly for new Canadians, who need affordable rental accommodation,” said Michael Brooks, the CEO of REALPAC, a national industry association representing owners and managers of investment real estate.
“But whose obligation is it to provide affordable rental?
“This may sound crass, but this is private property. The occupants are there under a rental contract, exchanging accommodation for rent. Sometimes people confuse what should be a public responsibility with private responsibility.”
But where do you go when a social housing placement is years away?
For Margaret Alluker, Heron Gate was there when the public system wasn’t.
Alluker moved to the neighbourhood in 2012, around the same time she got on the city’s waitlist for social housing. Six years later, she’s still on the waitlist, and still living with her four children in Heron Gate. There are approximately 10,000 households waiting for a social housing placement, according to the city.
Alluker’s time in Heron Gate hasn’t been perfect. She’s battled cockroaches and mice, and as the secretary for advocacy group ACORN’s south Ottawa chapter, she participated in a July march to the Timbercreek office, where they delivered work orders to highlight what ACORN described in a press release as “eviction by neglect.”
“Timbercreek has purposely let these units deteriorate so they can push out poor people and rebuild luxury rentals,” the organization wrote.
In the statement it provided to this newspaper, Timbercreek disputed this allegation.
“Since acquiring the properties in 2012/2013, Timbercreek has invested $45 million into Heron Gate. Timbercreek continues to maintain Heron Gate units and quickly responds to repair requests made by residents.”
It’s not as if the company acquired the units in perfect condition. Former Heron Gate resident and Ottawa South MPP John Fraser remembered it as a “model community ” when it was first built and managed by Minto back in the 1960s.
But maintenance degraded after TransGlobe acquired the property in 2007, and by the time Timbercreek took over in 2013, there were 500 outstanding work orders from the City of Ottawa.
“The current landlord is better at getting to those repairs,” Fraser said, though he also acknowledged that’s a relative commendation, and his office has fielded calls from dissatisfied tenants about Timbercreek’s property management.
In the battle for Heron Gate, the MPP is working from the sidelines. Rather than fighting the evictions, he’s chosen to support tenants in their search for new accommodations.
“The community is full of families, and they need help.”
Parliamentary secretary to the minister of families, children and social development Adam Vaughan said the Heron Gate eviction is too far along to halt, but makes a good case study for “the economic displacement of low-income rental communities,” an issue not isolated to Ottawa.
“It’s unfortunate we have to learn from them, but it’s important that we do.”
But among the 105 households served with eviction notices, there remain holdouts who aren’t waving the white flag just yet.
Some tenants have vowed not to move on principle. But others, including those with “I am not moving ” signs in their windows, said in interviews that given the time to find an adequate place, they would. And that’s what they’d like from Timbercreek.
But unless the company changes course — and the question of whether it’s considering doing so was not directly addressed when posed by this newspaper — the Sept. 30 deadline marches ever closer.
“Rental supply is at its peak in the summer but finding a range of options becomes more challenging toward the fall, so now is the time for residents to meet with Timbercreek’s team, view listings and secure a lease,” the company said.
The City of Ottawa will not provide a demolition permit until all services to the homes have been shut off, and no residents remain.
Alluker said she’s given up on looking for a new house before the end of next month, and she’s hoping that Timbercreek offers tenants more time to relocate.
“For me, the issue that we’re fighting for is not a one-singleperson issue. It’s not my issue. It might be my neighbour can find a place but for me, unity together is a good thing to make sure that next time, something like (this) will not happen.
“My daughter was crying like, ‘Oh I can’t move from here, my friends, I’m going to miss them, my teacher, my school.’ I was like ‘okay, we have to wait.’ I don’t know what will happen, but let us wait.”